Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the media after practice on Thursday. He was asked about CJ Baxter’s season-ending injury.
Here are the five most important things Sarkisian said:
1. Sarkisian’s reaction to Baxter’s injury: “I hate it for the kid the same way I talked about Liona Lefau the other day. If you polled our team who are the top three teammates on our team, Cedric Baxter would be in that top one, two, or three as well. As much as we love him for the player that he is, we love him more for the teammate that he is, and our thoughts and prayers are with him. We're encouraged by all the doctors that he's going to make a really healthy recovery, and we'll have him back for next season.
“So again, from our perspective, we'll be okay. Naturally, we're going to have to make some adjustments, like anything. Anytime you lose a player, you got to make some adjustments. But I think that's the value of trying to recruit and recruit at a high level, and the way we practice, the way that we do with a lot of the two spots, a lot of our guys are getting reps, and so we're plenty deep enough to still be a very good football team.”
2. Sarkisian said he feels good about the four guys he has at running back and is not looking to have a player switch positions to add depth. He said, “They're all playing at a high level, you know, with Jaydon [Blue] and Tre [Wisner] and then Christian [Clark] and Jerrick [Gibson]. To be fair to the rest of the guys on the roster, I kind of want to get them through this first scrimmage. They've been working out of position to give them a chance to play in this first scrimmage. And then, we'll assess as a staff on Sunday, when we evaluate the entire roster.”
3. Sarkisian described Wisner as a “baller.” He said Wisner was a “demon on special teams last year”, provides great energy, and is a great teammate.
In addition, Sarkisian is still interested in keeping Wisner on special teams.
4. I asked Sarkisian to discuss Tashard Choice’s history of making sure his backup running backs are ready to go (Roschon Johnson replacing Bijan Robinson two years ago and Jonathon Brooks stepping in for Baxter last year).
“I think Coach Choice does a great job in his room," Sarkisian said. "They're one heartbeat in that room. It's not individuals, it's one room. There's a standard for which he sets, and we set for how our running backs play in our offense and on our team. As you guys know now, going into year four, the running back is an integral part of what we do, and they possess kind of the heartbeat of the team and our running style and then our ability to be really versatile. We ask a lot of the runners. When their numbers are called, I think they're all very hungry. They work hard. We push them. They get a lot of reps in practice. And so when their number is called in-game, generally, whoever goes in there plays really well.
“I mean, you can go back to our very first year, whenever Jonathan Brooks went in the game, it was like, man, he's scoring another long touchdown, you know? Go back to last year, when early in the season, whenever Jaydon Blue would get in the game, the BYU game, he's snapping off long runs. It's a hungry room. I think Coach Choice does a great job of motivating those guys, but yet holding them accountable to the standard for which we want those guys to play.”
5. Sarkisian said he favors an injury report in college football if the NCAA ever implements it.
Here are the five most important things Sarkisian said:
1. Sarkisian’s reaction to Baxter’s injury: “I hate it for the kid the same way I talked about Liona Lefau the other day. If you polled our team who are the top three teammates on our team, Cedric Baxter would be in that top one, two, or three as well. As much as we love him for the player that he is, we love him more for the teammate that he is, and our thoughts and prayers are with him. We're encouraged by all the doctors that he's going to make a really healthy recovery, and we'll have him back for next season.
“So again, from our perspective, we'll be okay. Naturally, we're going to have to make some adjustments, like anything. Anytime you lose a player, you got to make some adjustments. But I think that's the value of trying to recruit and recruit at a high level, and the way we practice, the way that we do with a lot of the two spots, a lot of our guys are getting reps, and so we're plenty deep enough to still be a very good football team.”
2. Sarkisian said he feels good about the four guys he has at running back and is not looking to have a player switch positions to add depth. He said, “They're all playing at a high level, you know, with Jaydon [Blue] and Tre [Wisner] and then Christian [Clark] and Jerrick [Gibson]. To be fair to the rest of the guys on the roster, I kind of want to get them through this first scrimmage. They've been working out of position to give them a chance to play in this first scrimmage. And then, we'll assess as a staff on Sunday, when we evaluate the entire roster.”
3. Sarkisian described Wisner as a “baller.” He said Wisner was a “demon on special teams last year”, provides great energy, and is a great teammate.
In addition, Sarkisian is still interested in keeping Wisner on special teams.
4. I asked Sarkisian to discuss Tashard Choice’s history of making sure his backup running backs are ready to go (Roschon Johnson replacing Bijan Robinson two years ago and Jonathon Brooks stepping in for Baxter last year).
“I think Coach Choice does a great job in his room," Sarkisian said. "They're one heartbeat in that room. It's not individuals, it's one room. There's a standard for which he sets, and we set for how our running backs play in our offense and on our team. As you guys know now, going into year four, the running back is an integral part of what we do, and they possess kind of the heartbeat of the team and our running style and then our ability to be really versatile. We ask a lot of the runners. When their numbers are called, I think they're all very hungry. They work hard. We push them. They get a lot of reps in practice. And so when their number is called in-game, generally, whoever goes in there plays really well.
“I mean, you can go back to our very first year, whenever Jonathan Brooks went in the game, it was like, man, he's scoring another long touchdown, you know? Go back to last year, when early in the season, whenever Jaydon Blue would get in the game, the BYU game, he's snapping off long runs. It's a hungry room. I think Coach Choice does a great job of motivating those guys, but yet holding them accountable to the standard for which we want those guys to play.”
5. Sarkisian said he favors an injury report in college football if the NCAA ever implements it.
